Owlgryph & Co.

Translated from Octarian: "First Dawn on the Surface!"

For the first few months after she made it out of the domes and onto the surface of Inkadia, Ren was wary of being out during the day, finding the night sky and its stars and the lights of the city to be more comfortable. Plus, she'd heard that many Octolings (especially ones with paler skin and a lighter native ink like her) were predisposed to burning up in the light of day. Being nocturnal seemed to suit her just fine, as did her roommates who were hosting her as she was getting used to surface life and getting herself established.

One day though, she found herself losing track of time, lost in another bout of hyperfixation - this time, it was engineered by one of her roommates, tricking her into an 'all-nighter' to do a marathon of terrible b-movies for the sole purpose of a crash course on meme culture after being irritated by Ren's several questions for an explanation of context on Squidder shitposts. But of course the sole purpose of this wasn't necisarily for that knowledge, but to see the look on her face when the Octoling would see the sun for the first time, and promptly snapped a picture while the two were out on their apartment balcony.

Tonight's WIP for my next piece of Ren. Gonna clothe her up for this one, just haven't decided on what her digs should be in it!

Meet Ren! She's a bubbly self-styled 'Soft Goth' of an Octoling out in Splatsville. She grew up in the domes and was one of many who found their way to the surface over the last decade, where she became enamored by the vibrancy of the Splatlands' art scene, and while her own career as a creative hasn't taken off, she's been more than happy to share her love of the craft with visitors of the Museo d'Alfonsio, though she's also been known to be spotted in their turf war arena with her trusty brella in her off hours, mostly to make sure nobody causes too much damage to any of the artifacts on display there.

This fine inkfish was of course inspired by the designs of other xeno tag creators, especially @dogtoling and @aeriona. After so long of a drought in my own creative work, I am beyond overjoyed in the fact I've been able to make something I'm genuinely proud of.